When a bold Russian explorer arrived with two servants on the rugged coast of New Guinea in 1871, the tribe he encountered had never met a white man before. The feared people inhabiting the world´s second-largest island, in the southwestern Pacific, had a fierce reputation as headhunters and cannibals and Nickolay Miklouho-Maclay’s life was very much in danger as he stepped ashore. But - as he explained in his diary - his ´defenselessness´ was his safety. Miklouho-Maclay showed no aggression towards the Papuans and in return, they decided to let him live. The handsome 25-year-old had endured a gruelling 10-month

Comments:*named after his ancestor

Not our usual fare but the fascination of it shouldn´t be missed. The wonderful old drawings and photographs are treasures--and so are the well-done photos of today. It´s society and politics after all.

An SAS sniper has killed a senior ISIS fighter with a ´one in a million´ night-time shot from a mile away, it has been claimed. The marksman is said to have killed the terrorist with a ´head shot´ close to the Syrian border having been given a window of just 15 seconds. He is understood to be a sergeant with the SAS G-Squadron and a veteran of operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan, where he is understood to have recorded as many as 100 kills. According to the Daily Star Sunday, he is believed to have used a US-made McMillan TAC-50 sniper

President Trump ordered his White House staff to sign non-disclosure agreements that last beyond his presidency, a report claims. The American leader is said to have asked his senior employees to sign the document shortly after he was elected, according to a Washington Post newspaper column. His early months as President were marred by several leaks. It is claimed some employees did not want to sign the agreement, which stipulates that they will not reveal confidential information. But Reince Priebus, the former chief of staff and White House counsel, is said to have pressured them to comply. Officials are said to have eventually given in,

EUROPEAN Union´s chief Brexit negotiators have summoned senior diplomats to an urgent meeting - sparking speculation a transition deal is on the brink of being agreed. Diplomats handling Brexit talks for EU member states in Brussels will head for the crunch summit this morning. It comes as David Davis arrives in the Belgian capital for the latest stage in EU exit talks. One senior EU diplomat said: “There could be a deal.” Speculation is now rife an interim deal could be agree ahead of a summit later this week. Another diplomat, however, played down talk that good progress in negotiations with Britain over

Hillary Clinton provided an explanation for some recent comments she made that she understood ´upset or offended´ some Americans – statements that drew criticism from fellow Democrats and the Trump White House alike. ´I understand how some of what I said upset people and can be misinterpreted. I meant no disrespect to any individual or group,´ she said in a Facebook post. ´And I want to look to the future as much as anybody.´ Clinton, on a trip to India, had talked about how her voters came from economically advantaged places in comparison to Trump voters, and also noted how white women

BERLIN - North Korean rockets can now be fitted with nuclear weapons and could reach Germany and central Europe, a top official with Germany’s foreign intelligence agency told lawmakers this week, according to a report in the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. BND Deputy Director Ole Diehl told lawmakers during a closed-door meeting that the assessment was “certain,” the newspaper reported, citing participants in the briefing. At the same time, Diehl said the agency viewed talks between North and South Korea as a positive sign. No comment was immediately available from the BND. A senior North Korean diplomat left for Finland on Sunday for talks

The Labour leadership was scrambling today to limit the damage from Jeremy Corbyn´s refusal to condemn Russia. Senior frontbenchers took to the airwaves to insist they ´agree with the Prime Minister´ amid fears that Mr Corbyn has appeared to be an apologist for Vladimir Putin. The veteran left-winger was heavily criticised by MPs from all parties last week after he pointedly failed to accept that Moscow was behind the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury. Mr Corbyn´s spokesman inflamed the row further by arguing that the British security services might not be trustworthy

No friend of the Jews, Rex Tillerson…and he’s been fired by President Trump just in time for Passover. It’s being said that they differed, even quarreled, mainly over the Iran Nuke Deal… the one where Obama slipped $150 Billion to Iran’s tinhorn pharaohs in order, one way and another, to let them go ahead with a missile program intended to annihilate both Israel and the United States. Tilllerson, for reasons that somehow made sense to himself and his State Department, wanted it kept pretty much as is. Trump wants it fixed or ditched. So that difference of opinion is being cited as reason

Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg is accusing politicians of being the “b**ch of the NRA” in a new ad for the March for Our Lives protest. Hogg posted the video advertisement for the March 24 protest on his Twitter account, asking “#WhatIf we could go to school without fearing for our lives?” The video starts on an edgy note, with Hogg glaring into the camera and declaring, “What if our politicians weren’t the b**ch of the NRA?” “What if we all voted and said this was not okay?” he continued. “What if we stood up as Americans and fought for our freedom and our children’s lives? My name is David Hogg and I stand with

Barbra Streisand said she´s never suffered sexual harassment but has felt abused by the media. During a tribute to Streisand´s decades of TV music specials and other programs, producer and long-time admirer Ryan Murphy queried her about her career, the #MeToo movement and her aversion to interviews. ´Never,´ she replied when asked if she had been sexually mistreated. ´I wasn´t like those pretty girls with those nice little noses. Maybe that´s why.´ She acknowledged the power of protests against gender inequality sweeping through Hollywood and society.

Hillary Clinton provided an explanation for some recent comments she made that she understood ´upset or offended´ some Americans – statements that drew criticism from fellow Democrats and the Trump White House alike. ´I understand how some of what I said upset people and can be misinterpreted. I meant no disrespect to any individual or group,´ she said in a Facebook post. ´And I want to look to the future as much as anybody.´ Clinton, on a trip to India, had talked about how her voters came from economically advantaged places in comparison to Trump voters, and also noted how white women

First there was the casual sexism: the reason white women didn’t back her when she ran for president, Hillary Clinton believes, is “a sort of ongoing pressure to vote the way that your husband, your boss, your son, whoever, believes you should.” Have you noticed that her sneering always seems to take the same form? She’s become the queen of the contemptuous listicle that tails off into a snarling “whatever.” Remember the formulation in the speech where she came up with the term “basket of deplorables?” “You could put half of Trump´s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables,” Hillary said.

A prominent Republican says that Donald Trump would doom his presidency if he fires special counsel Robert Mueller. Sen Lindsey Graham, during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union”, said that Mr Mueller is following the evidence where it takes him as he investigates Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election. Getting rid of Mr Mueller, the senator said, would be a step too far. “If he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency, because we´re a rule of law nation,” Mr Graham said. ”I think it´s very important he be allowed to do

Democratic lawmakers have offered to hire fired former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe so that he can qualify for his pension. McCabe´s employment was terminated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions less than 48 hours before he would have qualified for his pension, a day that was also his 50th birthday. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., asked McCabe on Twitter to "call him." "I could use a good two-day report on the biggest crime families in Washington, D.C.," he wrote. Pocan was responding to a tweet by MSNBC journalist Andrea Mitchell, who said if a member of Congress were to hire him

Republican Jeff Flake delivered a speech Thursday at the annual ´Politics and Eggs´ event at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire. Flake said that during the administration of President Donald Trump, conservatives were an endangered species and the Republican Party had surrendered to a "propaganda-fueled dystopian view." Flake, who recently called for a 2020 Republican primary challenger against President Trump, is in the group of people who might do just that. "I haven´t ruled it out," he told CNN later in this same day. "I stand before you today the rarest of species," the retiring moderate Republican